Equinix is teaming up with VMware to offer private connectivity to VMware Cloud on AWS via AWS Direct Connect, at Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centres globally.

This new offering means customers can access VMware Cloud on AWS through private connectivity that bypasses the public internet, providing high levels of speed and security as enterprises integrate their on-premises VMware infrastructure with VMware Cloud on AWS.

VMware Cloud on AWS is an on-demand service that enables enterprises to run applications across vSphere-based cloud environments with access to a broad range of AWS services.

Powered by VMware Cloud Foundation, this service integrates vSphere, vSAN and NSX along with VMware vCenter management, and is optimised to run on dedicated, elastic, bare-metal AWS infrastructure. With VMware Hybrid Cloud Extension, customers can easily and rapidly perform large-scale bi-directional migrations between on-premises and VMware Cloud on AWS environments.

Customers can connect to an AWS Direct Connect edge node deployed at Equinix IBX data centres within the same metro or via Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric. They can also discover and connect to any other customer across any Equinix location globally through a user-friendly portal and a single connection to the Equinix platform.

Even Equinix customers who do not have network infrastructure in AWS Direct Connect metros can leverage ECX Fabric to extend their network reach to AWS Direct Connect markets.

VMware is currently the leader in the server virtualisation market, so by teaming up with VMware, Equinix is helping enterprises with on-premises infrastructure leverage the public cloud via AWS Direct Connect. Through this collaboration, Equinix and VMware are providing an effective means of consuming on-premises VMware infrastructure and VMware Cloud on AWS resources to ensure security, high performance, reliability and optimal cost efficiency.

Disaster recovery

Helps to granularly protect workloads on-premises in a cost-effective manner for either full or partial disaster recovery needs.

Mobility and migration

Helps with migrating workloads from a simple vSphere platform on-premises, or an entire VMware SDDC stack, to a fully software-defined VMware environment in VMware Cloud on AWS.

Hybrid cloud

Extends a data centre on-premises to VMware on AWS Cloud while expanding its geographic reach.

Multi-cloud applications

Helps enterprises freely move application components to span from its on-premises environment to the cloud.

Digital transformation

According to the Global Interconnection Index, a market study published recently by Equinix, the capacity for private data exchange between enterprises and cloud providers is forecast to grow six times faster than public internet traffic between 2017 and 2020.Therefore, the need to deploy hybrid cloud architecture by connecting to public cloud service providers, such as AWS, is becoming increasingly important for global enterprises as digital transformation fuels the need for virtualised, on-demand and elastic access to public and private cloud-based services. Through this collaboration with VMware, Equinix will enable hybrid cloud deployments for enterprises using VMware infrastructure.

Rick Villars, research vice president, data centre & cloud, IDC states,“As enterprises incorporate public cloud infrastructure and applications into their business and customer-facing environments, they need access to solutions that enable them to consistently use and manage all of their IT assets across all of their cloud environments. A key element in such a hybrid cloud architecture is interconnectivity.”

“Interconnectivity is not just about access to bandwidth, it’s about breadth of options, flexible consumption and air-tight security. The ability for enterprises with extensive VMware workloads to leverage VMware Cloud on AWS via Direct Connect at Equinix is an excellent example of how enterprises can now connect their hybrid environments globally while assuring security, high performance, low latency and lower cost.”